Cassandra Behind Closed Doors. Linda Sorpreso

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СКАЧАТЬ groaned! “Forget about the stupid game! The most important thing is I kissed Brayden!” I said, sipping a mouthful of water.

      “Yeah and? I thought you would be happy about that. You sound upset,” Abby said, getting into the bed.

      “Of course I’m upset! I really like Brayden. How can I be happy, knowing he’s going out with my best friend?”

      “Yeah and?” Abby asked.

      “And?” I said annoyed. Did I have to spell it out for her? “I’ve got no chance with him and I don’t want to hurt Lizzie.”

      “I know, but you can’t help how you feel. You should just be honest with her!”

      “And ruin our friendship? I don’t think so!”

      “Well, stay miserable then!”

      “You’re funny!” I muttered.

      “Maybe, it’s better this way,” Mum said, standing up. “I told you before to stay away from the Tammurellos and the Dantinis. Goodnight, it’s been a long day and I’m tired,” she kissed us and went into her own room.

      “Goodnight Cassie and don’t stress. It will all work out. We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” she turned off the lamp on her bedside table. I yawned and stretched out my legs.

      Yeah, that was easy for Mum and Abby to say. Don’t stress and stay away from the Tammurellos and the Dantinis. How could I? I stressed about everything that was important to me and it was hard to stay away from those families. I was attracted to one of their sons and I was dating the other. What was I going to do about the two of them? I didn’t want to hurt Vinnie but I really liked Brayden, even though I knew he didn’t hold any feelings for me. Apparently, he told Tessa that he only liked me as a cousin, even though we weren’t. Well, not that I knew of anyway. Maybe someone had an affair or something. Knowing Italians, it could happen but I doubt it. God wouldn’t be that cruel to me, would he?

      

Chapter Two

      I

      put my hands over my eyes and groaned at the sunlight shining through the blinds. It couldn’t be morning already. I didn’t even remember falling asleep. All I could recall was thinking about Brayden and Vinnie, and then waking up to the rays of light beaming into my face. I also heard the sound of laughter. Loud and very annoying.

      “Bitch,” I muttered, rolling onto my stomach.

      “What did you say?” Abby asked.

      “You heard me.”

      “No, actually I didn’t.”

      “I said ‘bitch’. You had to wake me up didn’t you? You couldn’t let me sleep awhile longer?”

      “Longer? Do you know what time it is?”

      “No, and I don’t care either!”

      “You should! It is eleven o’clock! It’s about time you woke up or else you’d sleep all day,” Abby said as she opened the closet.

      “I wish I could, so then I wouldn’t have to deal with you.”

      “Stop being such a mole! You needed to get off your lazy arse eventually,” she said, shutting the cupboard door with a loud thud.

      “I’ll get up when I’m good and ready thank you.”

      “Come on Cassie, we’re busy and we need your help.”

      “Well, I’m busy too if you hadn’t noticed. I was asleep and it’s not my fault you guys have so much to do, it wasn’t my idea to have Christmas dinner here tonight.”

      “Get up!”

      Glaring at her, I picked up my pillow, fluffed it a couple of times and then buried my head underneath.

      She laughed. “That’s fine, if you want to be that way.”

      I didn’t say anything. Hopefully that would give her the hint and she would piss off.

      It did. I heard the door creak open, listened as her footsteps stomped through and felt the anger increase when I overheard her telling Mum our conversation.

      “Close the door!” I yelled. Silence greeted me as well as the aroma of Mum’s bolognese sauce, which floated through the door. My stomach rumbled, smelling the fried onions and mince.

      “Stupid scrag,” I muttered, tossing the pillow aside, getting out of bed. I hated being woken up. Everybody knew that, including my sister. Abby must think she was so bloody clever, expecting I would just give in. Well, she assumed wrong. Two could play this game. I walked to the door, slamming it as hard as I could.

      “Fifteen all,” I muttered, crawling under the covers. That should teach her to mind her own business when it came to my sleeping patterns. I squirmed and wriggled, trying to get comfortable. Once I did, my tummy grumbled again.

      I groaned, aiming to ignore it. There was no way I would let my hunger lose this battle to Abby’s bitchiness. I closed my eyes, trying to fall back asleep.

      Ten minutes later, I was still in bed, wide awake and fuming. The damage was already done and I couldn’t get back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. Defeated, I got up and walked to the kitchen.

      Abby was sweeping the floor while Mum was standing at the sink, compressing coffee beans in the small grinder. She unplugged the cord from the wall, took off the plastic lid, turned the grinder upside down and tapped the ground coffee into a brown storage container.

      I used to love grinding the coffee. It sort of became an addiction. Whenever I heard Mum getting the grinder out of the pantry, I would race into the kitchen, push the chair against the sink, sit on my knees because I couldn’t reach and was mesmerized by the blade as it diced up beans into small particles. I loved the buzzing sound the machine made as soon as you flicked on the switch and though I had grown out of my fascination with it, I still loved opening the lid off the tub and releasing its fresh, enticing aroma. Despite its tempting smell, I couldn’t drink espresso; it was too strong and bitter for me and with sugar, it only enhanced the sour taste. I could only have it served cold, smeared on top of ice cream.

      “Morning Mum,” I said, scrunching her face in both hands, planting a kiss on the side of face. She squirmed out of my grasp. “Lasciami in pace, eh?

      “No! Why should I leave you alone?” I asked, laughing. She hated it when I kissed her like that; so I did it on purpose. I loved seeing her angry, she looked so cute.

      She chose to ignore me and grabbed the aluminium cafettiera from the cupboard below, unscrewed the top off, filling the bottom with water up to the rim. Then she placed a couple of spoonfuls of coffee into it and fastened both pieces together, putting it on the stove.

      “Good to see you aren’t still grumpy,” Abby said.

      I just stared at her. I opened my mouth and then closed it quickly. After what she СКАЧАТЬ